NGD - Strat!

[xenophobe]

My case is actually a little different... my covered compartment is the full width of the case. It's heavy as hell. It has to be 15+ lbs.... so I bought one of these for my showmaster... kinda expensive, but it's so well built:

[Hellbat]

Yeah theres a higher scale body glove one too that has a polycarbonate insert so it's kind of a hard case in a soft case.

So I finally figured out why the neck and body feel so different to me than my Jacksons and others. The clear is lacquer on these and not poly. And the neck is satin on the back but gloss on the fingerboard. I'm still in the honeymoon stage with this thing and my fingertips are just destroyed right now. I'm sure you will know the feeling when you get your CS back.

[xenophobe]

Hahaha... well good thing that you can get into playing it for that long. I already did that with my MIJ Fender... I seriously played all night and into the next day. Every time I put it down, I couldn't resist picking it back up. lol

So how does it play compared to... whatever CJs you own? I betcha you really like the Fender, eh?

[Hellbat]

It plays awesome. I had to tweak the intonation a bit when I put on my DR Tite-fits, but the action is bang on where I like it. About 2-3mm high. The cleared fingerboard is going to take some adjustment.

My RR1T plays better for the most part and of course has better upper fret access, but the Strat is a very close 2nd.

I needed some single coils in the arsenal. I'm thinking of getting a second pick guard for this to try out different pickup, but we'll see there. The stock ones sound awesome, but are not noise canceling in any way so if you are in an electrically noisy environment you either have to use the 2-4 settings or play compass needle to look for the quiet spot.

[xenophobe]

If you find you really love how they play, you should keep your eye out on MIJ Fenders. Build quality and neck quality are amazing (as good or better than American STD/DLX modeds), and most of them you can get on ebay for 30-40% of original cost. The high end ones sell for $1500-$1800 USD brand new... their cheap ones sell for about $800 USD new... almost all of the Floyded versions sell for 100,000+ yen brand new, that's not MSRP, that's actual in-store prices... They often end up on ebay for $300-$500. lol

[Anders]

Beautiful guitar!!